When the term first began circulating, there was something empowering about being a lightworker. My mantra, “I work in the Light and I serve the Light” has always been a powerful focus before healing sessions.

As time passed, the light-working community has grown diluted with positive affirmations and “just shine bright and ignore the bad stuff” philosophies. The teachings of Abraham and the message of The Secret are no less valid, it’s simply that our namaste-blanket-blessing lacks sincerity and dynamic alignment.

When the sacred becomes a t-shirt, we know we’ve moved into the mainstream and away from the potency of the truly divine.

I used to embrace the term lightworker, but have largely shied away from it in recent years. When once the blessing of light was enough, it has now become cliché, and drastically less effective as a tool for healing.

I now understand my role as a healer in service to the beings of this planet, not simply as bathing them in light, but rather as alleviating them of their density* so they may hold their own light better.

I see our bodies as light. The faster our cells vibrate, the more in-tune with Source we are. I use the words “heavy” and “dense” rather than the more charged “bad” and “negative.” There is nothing inherently bad in the universe. So to use this term is deceptive and only propagates feelings of being bad or lesser evolved. Psha!

We all carry vibrations: both light and dark, good and bad, dense, and luminescent. The path to enlightenment is one of unburdening the soul from feeling out of synch with—feeling separate from—God. We choose to vibrate higher, to radiate the light, and purify the frequencies around us. It’s a choice after all, and one we can be mindful of in each passing moment.

A Modern Take on an Ancient Role

The term “sin eater” has arisen lately from my Guides and feels strangely more apropos in the way healing is conducted. I was shown the vision of myself as a deep well, connected to the center of the earth. Into this well, clients can discard that which no longer serves them ‒ those secrets and stories which bring them shame, pain, and grief.

Rather than staying within my body, the debris falls into the earth to be transmuted. It’s not my job to heal them; rather, I act as a vortex through which the density can be shifted and their soul’s truest light restored. I stand in the light of love and offer them a safe place through which to heal themselves.

In traditional Celtic societies, a sin-eater would “eat” the sins of the deceased person after death in order to absolve the family and its lineage of the misdeeds of the departed. Eating the sins was sometimes done by placing food around the body which would be consumed by the sin eater. This was performed not only to serve the family but to ensure the deceased left this plane and did not linger in astral form. Far from a glamorous role, the sin eater was a societal outcast, though one who was relied upon for this sacred ritual.

I can’t say my modern-day role is much different. I help people release their burdens through the use of ritual, shamanic journey, sound, and sometimes just talking. The major difference is that I eat the sins of the living to make life better, rather than waiting ’til death to offer salvation.

Clients routinely report feeling lighter, having freed themselves of the burdens they silently carry. In the absence of the church and the waning appeal of psychotherapy, psychics and energy healers may invariably become the modern confessional. We can see through the masks people wear and help absolve them from isolation, shame, and judgment. In relieving them from the facade, we can bring them closer to their own light, truth, and God.

Purging to Heal Others

The shamans of Mexico will purge frequently as they do their healings. Shamanic belching and vomiting are the norm and protect the healer from absorbing the density removed from the patient. In medieval times, physicians often engaged in bloodletting to release the spirits or sins from the body. Acupuncture in ancient practice did the same. These forms of healing are trusted and effective; however, in this era of elevated frequency, I try to do my purging with vibration alone. Sound, chills, toning, drumming, and singing bowls are my modern-day equivalent. Plus, let’s admit, throwing up while in session is never a fun reality!

New Paradigms in Healing

I respect and appreciate the traditions of the shamans before me, but also see myself as galactic, a child of the cosmos. Practices are changing and the tools of healing are shifting.

Matt Kahn is an illuminated teacher sharing radical concepts of this modern ascension process. He explains it’s the role of the enlightened to transmute the negativity on this planet; to radiate so brilliantly, nothing of a lower vibration can be sustained.

In the old paradigm, we would protect ourselves or set boundaries when we experienced something of a lower vibration. In doing so, we transmute nothing, but keep the light for ourselves. This can be an exhausting endeavor to constantly clear ourselves or put up layers of energetic protection just to live within the public.

These behaviors are the opposite of what is truly being asked of us. Peace will reign once we radiate our light, once we offer blinding love and acceptance to even those darkest energies, regardless of how much pain they may be inflicting. When we can all participate in this response to the frustrations and anger we encounter, only then can we shift the consciousness of this planet. Radical, indeed!

Thus, the role of the healer isn’t to remove the negative, but to release these densities from the client so they may illuminate from within their own light.

In doing so, we are also serving in an ecclesiastic role by simultaneously purging it from the collective soul of the planet.

The Weight of Being a Lightworker

In this age of the Fifth Dimensional reality, to describe oneself as a lightworker is nondescript. We’re living in extraordinary times and the truth is, all beings are lightworkers! It’s not simply a moniker of the enlightened, but rather a phrase that encapsulates this era of humanity.

There’s nothing that makes us special, nothing that grants us a favor, but for some, it’s become a burden to bear. I’ve heard within our community that being a lightworker means we have to work extra hard to alleviate ourselves from the people around us. Or that being different—gifted, even—means we must endure the unevolved. As healers, we must be sensitive of this perceived burden and do our part to eradicate the elitism it sometimes carries.

We are seeing our ways of healing transform radically as paradigms shift and old beliefs collapse. Modern healers must be sin eaters to truly be of service and change the planet now. It’s the love we share and brilliance we radiate that holds the power to bring peace to those who seek us. We serve not by “fixing” people, but by reminding them of their innate radiance.

It’s the unconditional love we offer, even to their darkest places, which illuminates a path back to God. We heal without judgment, without limits, so they may reclaim their light again.

When we healers can embrace this space of love and act as a portal for healing, rather than creating separation in our role as beings of light, we can be of greater service to our planet. I’ll take “sin eater” over “lightworker” any day!